[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 127 (Friday, July 1, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43295-43297]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-15582]


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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

[Release No. 34-78164; File No. SR-BatsBZX-2016-27]


Self-Regulatory Organizations; Bats BZX Exchange, Inc.; Notice of 
Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of a Proposed Rule Change to Rule 
11.22(j) Identifying Certain Transactions as the Bats One Opening Price 
or the Bats One Closing Price

June 27, 2016.
    Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 
(the ``Act''),\1\ and Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\2\ notice is hereby given 
that on June 17, 2016, Bats BZX Exchange, Inc. (the ``Exchange'' or 
``BZX'') filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission 
(``Commission'') the proposed rule change as described in Items I, II, 
and III below, which Items have been prepared by the Exchange. The 
Commission is publishing this notice to solicit comments on the 
proposed rule change from interested persons.
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    \1\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1).
    \2\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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I. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Terms of Substance 
of the Proposed Rule Change

    The Exchange filed a proposal to amend the content of the Bats One 
Feed under Rule 11.22(j) to identify certain transactions as the ``Bats 
One Opening Price'' or the ``Bats One Closing Price.''
    The text of the proposed rule change is available at the Exchange's 
Web site at www.batstrading.com, at the principal office of the 
Exchange, and at the Commission's Public Reference Room.

II. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

    In its filing with the Commission, the Exchange included statements 
concerning the purpose of and basis for the proposed rule change and 
discussed any comments it received on the proposed rule change. The 
text of these statements may be examined at the places specified in 
Item IV below. The Exchange has prepared summaries, set forth in 
Sections A, B, and C below, of the most significant parts of such 
statements.

A. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement of the Purpose of, and 
Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule Change

1. Purpose
    The Exchange proposes to amend the content of the Bats One Feed 
under Rule 11.22(j) to identify certain transactions as the ``Bats One 
Opening Price'' or the ``Bats One Closing Price.'' The last sale 
information described below that the Exchange proposes to identify as 
the Bats One Opening or Closing Price is currently included in the Bats 
One Feed. The Exchange notes that it is not proposing to add new data 
elements to the Bats One Feed; it is simply proposing to identify 
existing data elements as the Bats One Opening or Closing Price. The 
Bats One Feed is a data feed that disseminates, on a real-time basis, 
the aggregate best bid and offer (``BBO'') of all displayed orders for 
securities traded on BZX and its affiliated exchanges \3\ and for which 
the Bats Exchanges reports [sic] quotes under the Consolidated Tape 
Association (``CTA'') Plan or the Nasdaq/UTP Plan.\4\
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    \3\ BZX's affiliated exchanges are the Bats BYX Exchange, Inc. 
(``BYX''), Bats EDGA Exchange, Inc. (``EDGA''), and Bats EDGX 
Exchange, Inc. (``EDGX'', together with EDGA, BZX, and BYX, the 
``Bats Exchanges'').
    \4\ See Securities Exchange Act Release No. 73918 (December 23, 
2014), 79 FR 78920 (December 31, 2014) (File Nos. SR-EDGX-2014-25; 
SR-EDGA-2014-25; SR-BATS-2014-055; SR-BYX-2014-030) (Notice of 
Amendments No. 2 and Order Granting Accelerated Approval to Proposed 
Rule Changes, as Modified by Amendments Nos. 1 and 2, to Establish a 
New Market Data Product called the Bats One Feed) (``Bats One 
Approval Order'').
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    The last sale information disseminated as part of the Bats One Feed 
includes the price, size, time of execution, and individual Bats 
Exchange on which the trade was executed. The last sale information 
also includes the cumulative number of shares executed on all Bats 
Exchanges for that trading day.\5\
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    \5\ The Bats One Feed also contains optional functionality which 
enables recipients to receive aggregated two-sided quotations from 
the Bats Exchanges for up to five (5) price levels for all 
securities that are traded on the Bats Exchanges in addition to the 
Bats One Summary Feed (``Bats One Premium Feed''). For each price 
level on one of the Bats Exchanges, the Bats One Premium Feed 
includes a two-sided quote and the number of shares available to buy 
and sell at that particular price level.
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    The Exchange now proposes to identify certain last sale 
transactions as the Bats One Opening Price or the Bats One Closing 
Price. For BZX listed

[[Page 43296]]

securities,\6\ the Bats One Opening Price would be the BZX Official 
Opening Price as defined in BZX Rule 11.23(a)(5) \7\ and the Bats One 
Closing Price would be the BZX Official Closing Price as defined in BZX 
Rule 11.23(a)(3).\8\ For non-BZX listed securities, the Bats One 
Opening Price would be the first last sale eligible trade \9\ that 
occurred on a Bats Exchange after 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time. That first 
trade would be identified as the Bats One Opening Price when 
disseminated via the Bats One Feed. The Bats One Closing Price for non-
BZX listed securities would be the final last sale eligible trade to 
occur on a Bats Exchange prior to 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The Bats One 
Closing Price would be disseminated via the Bats One Feed after 4:00 
p.m. Eastern Time. The Exchange would not disseminate a Bats One 
Opening or Closing Price for a particular trading day when a trade 
satisfying the above criteria does not occur.
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    \6\ A BZX listed security is a security listed on the BZX 
pursuant to Chapter 14 of BZX's Rules.
    \7\ The term ``BZX Official Opening Price'' is the price 
disseminated to the consolidated tape as the market center opening 
trade. See Exchange Rule 11.23(a)(5). In the event that there is no 
opening auction for a BZX listed security, the BZX Official Opening 
Price will be the price of the final last sale eligible trade, which 
will be the previous BZX Official Closing Price. See BZX Rule 
11.23(b)(2)(B).
    \8\ The term ``BZX Official Closing Price'' is the price 
disseminated to the consolidated tape as the market center closing 
trade. See Exchange Rule 11.23(a)(3). In the event that there is no 
closing auction for a BZX listed security, the BZX Official Closing 
Price will be the price of the final last sale eligible trade. See 
BZX Rule 11.23(c)(2)(B).
    \9\ A last sale eligible trade must be of at least one round 
lot. A round lot consists of one hundred (100) shares. See Exchange 
Rule 11.10.
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    In addition, the Bats One Opening and Closing Price for BZX listed 
securities are included in the depth-of-book data feeds for each of the 
Bats Exchanges, which are used to construct the Bats One Feed. Also, 
the Bats One Opening and Closing Prices for non-BZX listed securities 
is derivable from the underlying data feeds that comprise the Bats One 
Feed, as those feeds contain the necessary last sale information to 
identify if a transaction is last sale eligible.
2. Statutory Basis
    The Exchange believes that its proposal is consistent with Section 
6(b) of the Act \10\ in general, and furthers the objectives of Section 
6(b)(5) of the Act \11\ in particular, in that it is designed to 
promote just and equitable principles of trade, to foster cooperation 
and coordination with persons engaged in facilitating transactions in 
securities, to remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism of a 
free and open market and a national market system and, in general, to 
protect investors and the public interest.
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    \10\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b).
    \11\ 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(5).
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    The Exchange also believes that the proposed rule change is 
consistent with Section 11(A) of the Act \12\ in that it supports (1) 
fair competition among brokers and dealers, among exchange markets, and 
between exchange markets and markets other than exchange markets and 
(2) the availability to brokers, dealers, and investors of information 
with respect to quotations for and transactions in securities. 
Furthermore, the proposed rule change is consistent with Rule 603 of 
Regulation NMS,\13\ which provides that any national securities 
exchange which distributes information with respect to quotations for 
or transactions in an NMS stock do so on terms that are not 
unreasonably discriminatory. In adopting Regulation NMS, the Commission 
granted self-regulatory organizations and broker-dealers increased 
authority and flexibility to offer new and unique market data products 
to the public. It was believed that this authority would expand the 
amount of data available to consumers, and also spur innovation and 
competition in the market data provider industry.
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    \12\ 15 U.S.C. 78k-1.
    \13\ See 17 CFR 242.603.
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    The proposed rule change is designed to promote just and equitable 
principles of trade and remove impediments to and perfect the mechanism 
of a free and open market and a national market system by identifying 
certain transactions as the Bats One Opening or Closing Price to 
investors. The Exchange also believes this proposal is consistent with 
Section 6(b)(5) of the Act because it protects investors and the public 
interest and promotes just and equitable principles of trade by 
providing investors with new options for receiving such information.
    Lastly, the proposal would not permit unfair discrimination because 
the information will be available to all investors and market data 
vendors on an equivalent basis. In addition, any investor that wishes 
to receive such information via a different source will be able to do 
so. As noted above, the Exchange is not proposing to add new data 
elements to the Bats One Feed; it is simply proposing to identify 
existing data elements as the Bats One Opening or Closing Price. 
Specifically, that the BZX Official Opening Price and BZX Official 
Closing Price for BZX listed securities are currently provided and 
disseminated via the consolidated tape \14\ and included in the depth-
of-book data feeds for each of the Bats Exchanges, which are used to 
construct the Bats One Feed. In addition, investors can also 
independently identify the Bats One Official Opening and Closing prices 
for non-BZX listed securities via other sources, as prices of the first 
and final last sale eligible transaction to occur during Regular 
Trading Hours \15\ are posted to the consolidated tape. Also, the Bats 
One Opening and Closing Prices for non-BZX listed securities are 
derivable from the underlying data feeds that comprise the Bats One 
Feed, as those feeds contain the necessary last sale information to 
identify if a transaction is last sale eligible.
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    \14\ See BZX Rule 11.23(a)(3) and (5).
    \15\ Regular Trading Hours is defined as the time between 9:30 
a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. See Exchange Rule 1.5(w).
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B. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Burden on Competition

    The Exchange does not believe the proposal will impose any burden 
on competition not deemed necessary or appropriate in furtherance of 
the purposes of the Act. A vendor seeking to offer a similar product by 
identifying certain transaction as an opening or closing price would be 
able to do so on the same terms as the Exchange. As discussed in in 
[sic] the Bats One Approval Order,\16\ any entity may separately 
purchase the individual underlying products, and if they so choose, 
perform an aggregation and consolidation function similar to that which 
the Exchange performs in creating the Bats One Feed. Any entity may 
offer a data feed with the same information included in the Bats One 
Feed to sell and distribute it to its clients with no greater cost than 
the Exchange. Likewise, a competing vendor could independently identify 
certain transaction as an opening or closing price and include such 
information as part of their product to be disseminated to their 
customers. As discussed above, the BZX Official Opening Price and BZX 
Official Closing Price for BZX listed securities is currently provided 
to and disseminated via the consolidated tape.\17\ A competing market 
data vendor could also independently identify the Bats One Official 
Opening and Closing prices for non-BZX listed securities via other 
sources, as such prices are the first and final last sale eligible 
transaction to occur during Regular Trading Hours.

[[Page 43297]]

Therefore, the Exchange believes the identification of an Official Bats 
One Opening Price or Closing Price in the Bats One Feed would not 
impose any burden on competition not deemed necessary or appropriate in 
furtherance of the purposes of the Act.
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    \16\ See Bats One Approval Order, supra note 4.
    \17\ See BZX Rule 11.23(a)(3) and (5).
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C. Self-Regulatory Organization's Statement on Comments on the Proposed 
Rule Change Received From Members, Participants or Others

    The Exchange has neither solicited nor received written comments on 
the proposed rule change.

III. Date of Effectiveness of the Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 
Commission Action

    Because the foregoing proposed rule change does not: (A) 
Significantly affect the protection of investors or the public 
interest; (B) impose any significant burden on competition; and (C) by 
its terms, become operative for 30 days from the date on which it was 
filed or such shorter time as the Commission may designate it has 
become effective pursuant to Section 19(b)(3)(A) of the Act \18\ and 
paragraph (f)(6) of Rule 19b-4 thereunder,\19\ the Exchange has 
designated this rule filing as non-controversial. The Exchange has 
given the Commission written notice of its intent to file the proposed 
rule change, along with a brief description and text of the proposed 
rule change at least five business days prior to the date of filing of 
the proposed rule change, or such shorter time as designated by the 
Commission.
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    \18\ 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A).
    \19\ 17 CFR 240.19b-4.
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    At any time within 60 days of the filing of the proposed rule 
change, the Commission summarily may temporarily suspend such rule 
change if it appears to the Commission that such action is: (1) 
Necessary or appropriate in the public interest; (2) for the protection 
of investors; or (3) otherwise in furtherance of the purposes of the 
Act. If the Commission takes such action, the Commission shall 
institute proceedings to determine whether the proposed rule should be 
approved or disapproved.

IV. Solicitation of Comments

    Interested persons are invited to submit written data, views, and 
arguments concerning the foregoing, including whether the proposed rule 
change is consistent with the Act. Comments may be submitted by any of 
the following methods:

Electronic Comments

     Use the Commission's Internet comment form (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml); or
     Send an email to [email protected]. Please include 
File Number SR-BatsBZX-2016-27 on the subject line.

Paper Comments

     Send paper comments in triplicate to Secretary, Securities 
and Exchange Commission, 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC 20549-1090.

All submissions should refer to File Number SR-BatsBZX-2016-27. This 
file number should be included on the subject line if email is used. To 
help the Commission process and review your comments more efficiently, 
please use only one method. The Commission will post all comments on 
the Commission's Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the submission, all subsequent amendments, all 
written statements with respect to the proposed rule change that are 
filed with the Commission, and all written communications relating to 
the proposed rule change between the Commission and any person, other 
than those that may be withheld from the public in accordance with the 
provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be available for Web site viewing and 
printing in the Commission's Public Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20549, on official business days between the hours of 
10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of such filing will also be available 
for inspection and copying at the principal office of the Exchange. All 
comments received will be posted without change; the Commission does 
not edit personal identifying information from submissions. You should 
submit only information that you wish to make available publicly. All 
submissions should refer to File Number SR-BatsBZX-2016-27 and should 
be submitted on or before July 22, 2016.
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    \20\ 17 CFR 200.30-3(a)(12).

    For the Commission, by the Division of Trading and Markets, 
pursuant to delegated authority.\20\
Robert W. Errett,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-15582 Filed 6-30-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 8011-01-P